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'Stop talking s***': Oakley rips Barkley after Cavs-Hawks Game 2

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer

Well, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks wasn't exactly competitive, but NBA fans eager for something a bit spicier than 3-point dominance and social media self-deprecation got some bonus beef broiling on Wednesday evening — and this particular cut was aged to perfection.

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It begins with Charles Barkley's assertion on TNT's "Inside the NBA" broadcast that the Hawks, at some point during their absolute pasting in a record-setting long-distance performance by the Cavs, should have gotten much more physical and nastier:

"I've got to vent," Barkley said to host Ernie Johnson. "The Atlanta Hawks got to take somebody out, Ernie."

"Touch 'em up or take 'em out?" Johnson asked.

"Take 'em out," Barkley answered.

"Come on, man, you can't say that on national TV," Shaquille O'Neal added. "You can't hurt nobody, Chuck."

"Ernie, when a team is just embarrassing you, shooting 3s when the game is way over, just trying to set a record, you have to knock the hell out of them, Ernie," Barkley replied. "Not for this game, but to set the tone for the next game. [...] I'm just saying, if you keep shooting 3s, I've got to take you down one time really hard."

After attempting to thread a pretty difficult needle by insisting that he never wants to see anyone get hurt but also that the Hawks absolutely needed to waylay a Cavalier to send a message, Barkley emphasized the importance of Atlanta making sure Cleveland understood that "disrespectful" behavior like gunning for the all-time 3-point record simply wouldn't be tolerated. Evidently, Barkley was not the only one interested in message-sending on Wednesday evening.

Well, hello there, Charles Oakley! I didn't notice you there, lurking in the back of every NBA-related person's mind, in amongst the nightmares and things with which you do not mess, even one tiny little bit, even for one second. Nice to see you again!

Soon after Oak's tweet calling the Chuckster out began to blaze a white-hot trail through these Internet streets, it made its way to Studio J in Atlanta and onto "Inside," prompting a response from Barkley on the broadcast:

"Charles Oakley doesn't like me, which is no big deal," Barkley said. "I don't like him or dislike him; I don't think about him. He's not important enough for me to think about. [...] He don't like me. I have no idea why."

I mean, I think we have some idea why, Chuck. This thing of yours goes back some 30 years:

... and continued nearly a decade later:

(From the New York Times: "Of Barkley, [Oakley] added: 'He's been doing lots wrong his whole career and it doesn't seem to matter. He has spit on people. They don't care.'")

... and, infamously, allegedly continued in January of 1999:

The unofficial start to the NBA season came sometime Wednesday afternoon when Charles Oakley said he belted his longtime nemesis Charles Barkley in the face during the players union meeting. "I heard what he was saying about me in Atlantic City and I didn't like it," Oakley said last night. "I'm fed up with him. "I told him you need to change your name. I'm the only Charles." [...]

Oakley claims Barkley plays the punk when he tries to be friendly off the court. "He did that the other day," Oakley said. "He thought everything was cool, but I'm not his friend. Then everybody grabbed us."

Oakley allegedly slapped Barkley across the face and the two were quickly separated by the Knicks' Chris Mills and Indiana's Antonio Davis. Just last month, Barkley said he'd be interested in joining the Knicks.

If you're still not sure, Charles, Oak clarified his position back in 2010:

My thing is, when Barkley played basketball, he didn't practice, he wasn't a leader, he wasn't this or that, he just had natural talent so he got chosen to the Dream Team, All Star team because he had the talent and he was the franchise player on the team. Him criticizing all those other guys, he did the same thing when he was young. As soon as they do something wrong, he criticizes them, that's wrong. He wasn't real to the game. Let the guys speak out who are real to the game. He talks like a player and I will give him that, but for him to comment about this and being a professional, he wasn't all that.

... and in 2012:

"Barkley for his size was a good player but he's a coward, though. ... He wasn't a leader and wasn't a role model. Now he talks so bad about younger guys, I don't respect that from him. … He wants to be funny, that whole TNT thing and all that, they're like some clowns on that show."

... and, again, later in 2012:

"I don't go around talking to him. He has opinions. He talks every Tuesday and Thursday about things I did. I just don't like the way he tried to act like he was a good citizen when he played or that he was this and that. He was one of the hardest people to get along with, to play with, everything -- but people don't write about it. People give him a free pass because he's on TV, but I don't believe in that. When he spit on the guy in Cleveland, he got a break. I just don't like when you preach one thing and do something else. That's what the world is coming to. It's just phony. Nobody stands up for what they say anymore."

Barkley, for his part, urged a farewell to the beef four years ago: "Dude, we got into an altercation in [1996]. It’s over with. We don’t even play anymore. I have been retired for 12 years. I mean, we’ve never had an issue off the court, but we did have a little altercation back in the mid 1990′s, but dude, I have been retired for 12 years. It’s over with. Let it go."

Oakley, however, clearly isn't about to let it go ... which, now that you mention it, is why Barkley might want to resume thinking about Charles Oakley this evening:

It wasn't quite the type of excitement we'd bargained for, but with the drama drained out of the evening's modern-day matchup very early on, we were glad for a bit of throwback turmoil. Thanks, Chucks.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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